General info about the UK criminal networks

UK dominated by British families despite influx of foreigners

An intelligence map drawn up by the leading police expert on organised crime identifies more than 1, 000 active criminal networks and shows that gangland is still controlled by British families, despite the influx of crime syndicates from Eastern Europe and South-East Asia over the past decade. British gangs are quite unlike the Italian Mafia model or the Turkish groups. There are no set ranks, rules and structures. They are more fluid, flexible and opportunist. The intelligence picture was built up by Acpo working with the 43 police forces in England and Wales and other bodies. More than 15, 000 individuals are said to have been identified as involved in organised crime. London has more than 170 gangs. Some have sophisticated hierarchies; others are little more than street-level groups.

In Liverpool, criminal networks are deeply embedded and run by a number of families whose tentacles spread well beyond the city. Merseyside criminals control the drug trade on the South Coast.

Manchester has established gangs such as the Longsight Crew and the Gooch Close Gang, while Birmingham has been dealing for years with the rivalry between the Johnson Crew and the Burger Bar Boys. Bradford is a centre for money laundering and a major distribution point for heroin by British-Pakistani gangs.

Serious crime in Nottingham has been dominated by the Gunn family. Glasgow is the hub for the distribution of firearms in Scotland and the starting point for much of the heroin trade, which spreads as far north as Shetland.

Many foreign gangs active in Britain are based overseas and exploit the 11, 000-mile coastline and security weaknesses at sea ports to smuggle drugs, guns and counterfeit goods into the country. Much of the media coverage of gangs has concentrated on turf wars and feuds, but serious criminal activity is focused on making money.

Career criminals prefer to work together when they have common interests. They will form loose coalitions, sharing their specialist skills in pursuit of the highest profit with the least risk.

Organised crime is driven by profit. Some 60 per cent of criminal groups are involved in drug trafficking, but many are multi-commodity organisations. If they can traffic drugs they can also smuggle counterfeit goods or weapons. They often form loose, amorphous coalitions - coming together for a particular venture, perhaps one group needs a skill which another specialises in.

A recent investigation in London uncovered an arms deal in which a Lithuanian gang had been trading handguns in return for an introduction to Colombian cocaine contacts. Another inquiry broke up a sex trafficking ring run jointly by Lithuanian, Albanian and Chinese criminals.

There are Mr Bigs, but the person you start out thinking of as the Mr Big is quite often not. These are people who are flying below the radar and you may not realise who they are for a long time. Significant criminal activity is being driven from within prisons.

All criminal groups are prepared to resort to violence when necessary to commit robberies, enforce protection rackets or secure drug deals. Firearms, which are seen as a tool and a statement of intent, are a priority. Some networks, notably newly arrived groups from Lithuania, have been established to service that demand.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mafia

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_Mafia